Priestly Duties
by mysterySanity
Summary: Mariku the death god meets Ryou the very small child stuck in a tree. When he decides to make Ryou a priest in his temple, life, or at least the betting pool of deities, may be changed forever. A story of growing up and dealing with loving socially awkward beings who refuse to have identity crises, and thus force you to have all of them.
1. Chapter 1

Once on an island far away a young boy was left stranded in a tree after a particularly fierce storm. Now his future could've diverged in any direction at this point, he could've been adopted by a poor, but sweet couple, or yes, starved. However in this particular universe, for this particular boy, he was much luckier. Or perhaps one might call him much, much more unlucky. It all depends on who tells the story, and the story has changed quite a bit since it began. Yet the truth will always out, as is the case this particular day.

A little boy sits crying in a tree. He is in the awkward middling stages during which child seems to not quite fit, yet he cannot truly be called a baby any longer. He is old enough to know that his mother is not here, and she should be, but not old enough to remember her when he grows should he be separated from her. Whatever else can be said, the fact remains that he is crying, quite pitifully at that. Not the long, loud, weeping cries of a child who expects to be taken care of immediately, but the quiet, pitiful cries of one who has been waiting for a very long time and knows no one is coming, but still needs to express sorrow. He wipes his nose on leaves, his hands, his long white hair, anything he can reach when it runs too drastically, and continues to keel sorrowfully.

A man materializes just opposite of the tree the boy sits crying in, unable to get down, and blinks, as though he was not expecting to be greeted by tears. Perhaps they came after in his line of work. The man appears very clearly not human, however, with wild blonde hair sticking in thick clumps in a wild mane, clearing four feet around his head easily. His bronze skin glowed ethereally in the sunlight, and his shoulders seemed to stretch for miles. All of that could've been forgiven, but the man's eyes could not be. They gleamed a sickly yellow, backed by a power that whispered dark secrets to the human soul. He cocks his head to the side, staring at the small boy opposite of him.

"Boy." He calls, and the boy looked up, pale skin beginning to blister like a cooking lobster even in the fair light of the morning. The boy sniffs in an attempt to dry his tears and focus on this stranger. "What are you doing?" The man asks. And the boy blinks wetly.

"Crying." He answers, with a croaking voice belaying the hours he must've spent doing as he claimed. The man frowns.

"Why do you cry boy?" He asks, and the boy sniffles once more, thinking the question over in the serious manner only not quite babies can manage. The man waits patiently, head still cocked.

"Can't get down." The boy finally decides. The man thinks this over, and nods after a while.

"You shouldn't have climbed up." The man proclaims, and the boy frowns for the first time. The man begins to walk away, content in his understanding of the problem.

"Didn't!" The boy protests, and the man pauses. "Storm did it." The boy insists, making wave motions with one of his hands, and holding onto the tree with the other.

"I've been told lying is wrong." The man responds, as though the lesson never particularly stuck with him. The boy frowns more severely.

"Not!" He yells, and then ducks his head, apparently surprised at the amount of noise he can produce. The man grins, however, more at home with this type of conversation. "'Sbad. Hurts." The boy says stubbornly, crossing his arms over his chest. The man shrugs carelessly. "Name?" The boy asks, when it becomes clear the man is not interested in pursuing this line of conversation, or perhaps just because he himself has become bored of it.

"Me?" The man asks, looking surprised. The boy nods and smiles. "People call me Mariku." He answers, and the boy's eyes light up in comprehension.

"Death." He declares with a smile, and Mariku looks a little taken aback with the warmth in the smile, but nods anyway. "Mine." The boy demands after a brief silence. Mariku's brow furrows.

"Your name is Death?" He guesses, but the boy frowns severely, so Mariku assumes that was not what the boy meant, and thinks hard. "What…" He starts, furrowing his brow, "is your name?" The boy claps, and Mariku smiles a little.

"Ryou!" The boy chirrups happily, having apparently forgotten all about his predicament over the course of their conversation. Mariku nods in acknowledgement, but keeps his distance. Ryou frowns and holds out his hand. "Shake. 'Snice." Ryou explains and then furrows his brow. "Po-lite." He sounds out, and so Mariku dutifully treks over to kiss the boy's hand. Ryou giggles. "'Snot shake." He says, and instead takes Mariku's hand in his and gently lifts it up and back down. "Shake. 'Snice." Ryou says proudly.

Mariku blinks a little and feels a smile creeping up. He tries not to smile in the company of humans because apparently it is 'rude' in 'his line of work' and 'terrifies the mortals even more Mariku, please stop being so creepy'. But Ryou doesn't seem to notice that Mariku's smile is supposedly off, and he grins widely back. "You're coming with me." Mariku decides, and reaches up to pluck Ryou from the tree. Ryou frowns again, but Mariku doesn't see the problem and so sets him down on the ground next to him.

"Ask. 'Sbad." Ryou grumbles and Mariku blinks again, confused. Humans seem to have endless rules that make no sense.

"Come with me?" Mariku says instead of arguing, attempting to make the statement sound at least a little like a question. Clearly it meets with Ryou's exacting standards, because he nods and reaches up to take Mariku's hand. Mariku stares blankly at their intertwined hands and then back down at Ryou in confusion. Ryou blinks back up at him guilelessly. "What's this?" Mariku finally asks when it becomes clear Ryou is not just going to offer him an explanation. Ryou cocks his head to the side and furrows his eyebrows.

"Walking. Gots to hold hands. 'Sa rule." Ryou explains with all the confidence of a very young child. Mariku nods back seriously and marks another rule off in his mental list of human nonsense. This, at least, is a sensible rule, because Ryou's hand is a comforting weight in his, even if it is a little damp, like the rest of Ryou. Mariku sets off into the woods, towards where he knows his temple is only two days walk. Normally he would travel through the shadows, but he has never taken a living human with him before, and he's not entirely sure what would happen, but he thinks he might be sad if it caused something bad to happen to Ryou. Besides, Mariku likes walking, even if humans tend to do what Ryou was doing in the tree when they see him and run away like they're trying to play what he's been told is called tag with him. But they aren't, because if he chases after them, they only cry harder. Mariku and Ryou walk until Ryou starts to droop and rub his eyes and blink heavily every couple of seconds.

"What are you doing?" Mariku asks when this doesn't cease to happen after a space of maybe two minutes.

"Tired. Hungry." Ryou responds, before breaking off into a huge yawn that doesn't seem to fit inside such a tiny human. He starts sniffling again and Mariku frowns because he does not want a reenactment of the tree scene earlier.

"What do you want, then?" Mariku asks, fairly politely he feels, given they are still two days away from his temple because Ryou's inferior tiny human legs cannot carry him as fast as Mariku's can.

"Carry?" Ryou responds, hesitantly lifting his arms. Mariku blinks, but obligingly reaches down and picks up the small child. He barely weighs anything and it's not like Mariku would have trouble lifting him even if he did weigh the substantial amount Mariku, from his relatively limited exposure, feels children his age should be.

"Why are you so tiny?" Mariku demands, because after racking his brain Mariku has become sure that even the dead children he had to fetch weighed more than Ryou. In fact, Ryou feels closer to death than most of those children had when he visited earlier in the week, or month. Ryou blinks sleepily at Mariku and pats his cheek,

"Hungry." Ryou repeats, before yawning once more and snuggling his cheek to Mariku's chest. Mariku considers this before deciding he is glad that Ryou is his now, because he might've had to murder the boy's guardians if he had not found Ryou in a tree. But then again, he would never have met Ryou if Ryou was in the tree, so perhaps he should thank whichever deity had caused the storm instead. There was a lot to consider here. But then Mariku frowns again, because Ryou's life-force was very weak, as were several life-forces in the surrounding villages. Maybe he would try to find some food for Ryou while doing his job. Mariku feels this is a good plan, so he seeks out the poorest life force and stores Ryou on a little clover patch to go find some food.

Two hours, five minor life extensions, and ten soul-reapings later, Mariku returns to where he left Ryou with what he feels is an appropriate amount of food. Ryou is sitting on the clover patch, with his arms wrapped around his torso and his face twisted in misery. Mariku blinks at him and offers the top food item, which turns out to be bread when Ryou looks up, and Ryou's face crumples completely and he starts crying. Mariku rears back, confused. He thought Ryou would like the food, humans needed it to live, didn't they? But then he suddenly became aware of the fact the Ryou had wrapped himself around his leg.

"Gone!" Ryou sobs, clinging tightly to Mariku's leg. Mariku considers this, wishing Ryou had a slightly larger vocabulary, before he thinks he understands.

"You were asleep, so I got food." Mariku explains, offering the bread again. This time Ryou looks at it distrustfully, then stares back at Mariku, and then back to the bread.

"Mine?" He asks, doubtfully, unwrapping one arm from Mariku's leg. Mariku feels a surge of murderous rage rush over him, inexplicably but like an old friend, but he's been told expressing this rage is 'terrifying, please never do that again', so instead of saying anything Mariku nods, and Ryou reaches out to slowly take the bread, watching Mariku the whole time. He then proceeds to eat the entire loaf of bread while Mariku watches in astonishment. "Up?" Ryou asks after he finishes, and without so much as looking at the rest of the food, so Mariku banishes it to the Shadow Realm and dutifully picks Ryou up again to continue the trek to his temple.

So it goes for the rest of the trip to Mariku's temple, which turns out to take four days because of Ryou's inability to travel consistently, even with Mariku carrying him. Mariku doesn't blame Ryou though; he is, after all, only a very small human, so expecting the same from him as one would from a god is a very silly idea. Still, they eventually reach Mariku's temple, at which point Mariku sets Ryou down and knocks, because Ryou had told him when Mariku had taken Ryou with him to one of the villages 'knock, 'snice'.

"We're not open to the public today." The voice of his lead priestess echoes politely. Mariku frowns.

"Yes you are." He insists, and the door flies open. His lead priestess gapes at him, as though she has never seen him before. Which is ridiculous, because Mariku was just here three weeks ago.

"My lord, I thought you were a villager. You…" She hesitates here, sweeping her gaze from his feet to the top of hair. "You usually just appear inside." She finishes softly. Mariku nods, this is true, but Ryou had insisted.

"'Srude. Gotta knock!" Ryou yells from Mariku's side and his priestess' eyes bulge out. It is an amusing look on her. She appears to be struggling for words, but that is one problem Mariku's travel companion does not have an issue with. "Name?" He asks curiously, and the priestess stutters and stumbles over her words while Mariku and Ryou wait patiently. She keeps shooting confused looks at Mariku.

"Ishizu." She finally manages, drawing herself up regally. "Ishizu Ishtar. Who are you?" She returns. This is why Mariku made her his lead priestess; she is never surprised by anything for too long. It's a good trait for a priestess of any deity, especially him, to have.

"Ryou! Nice meet!" Ryou exclaims, politely extending his hand to the women. Ishizu smiles gently, and takes his hand as Mariku watches fascinated. They shake hands, much more gracefully than Mariku and Ryou managed, and then Ishizu turns back to Mariku.

"Is there something you needed, my lord?" Ishizu asks politely, and Mariku nods, motioning to Ryou.

"Ryou should stay here." Mariku states simply, and blinks when Ryou shoots him a betrayed look, complete with watery eyes. Ishizu notices as well and tsks.

"Our lord is poor with words, forgive me Mariku." Ishizu directs to first statement to Ryou and the second to Mariku. Ryou blinks with watery eyes up at her, and Mariku simply nods, it was a true statement, he sees no need for apologies. "I believe he desires you to stay here because his job as a death god is very dangerous and not appropriate for children. Besides, here he will always know where you are, and as a priest you will have a line of communication to him. Am I wrong?" Ishizu asks, again directing the last portion of her statement to Mariku. Mariku shakes his head, slightly confused. Is that not what he said? Ryou turns his gaze seriously to Mariku.

"'Strue?" He demands, and Mariku nods firmly. Ryou sniffles and nods back before taking Ishizu's outstretched hand.

"Will you be staying my lord?" Ishizu asks politely, but Mariku shakes his head against.

"I've wasted enough time. There are dead people." Mariku says, and turns to go, feeling good about his accomplishment.

"Bye!" He hears, and turns slightly back around to see Ryou waving one hand over his head. Mariku mimics the gesture hesitantly, and then more certainly when Ryou smiles widely. He watches Ishizu and Ryou turn and enter the black marble temple before he turns as well to return to his job.

**I wrote this in about an hour and now it's midnight thirty, forgive me if there are awful errors, I just wanted to post it as soon as possible, because Once on This Island is one of my favorite musicals and while this just barely has anything to do with Once on This Island it was still spawned from the musical. Also get excited for Mariku/Ryou because why not, am I right?**


	2. Chapter 2

"Ryou." Mariku greets. Ryou flails, almost upsetting the bucket of water he's using to mop the floor, before turning the face Mariku. The boy has grown Mariku notes with surprise. He hadn't thought he'd been gone that long, but Ryou is at least 4 inches taller and much more well-fed. Ryou's face lights up, and Mariku feels his heart beat slightly faster. He blinks, unsure what to make of that.

"Mariku! It's been so long." He smiles, and Mariku feels the corners of his mouth turn upwards in response. Someone nearby begins to make choking noises, and Mariku blinks again, turning in their direction. It's one of his priestesses, he thinks, he's never been entirely sure how many he has, only that Ishizu is his favorite, which is why she's the head priestess.

"Ryou, you can't speak like that to our lord!" The priestess snaps as soon as she regains vocal capacity. Mariku feels his brow begin to furrow as the priestess briskly walks over to Ryou and forces his head down into a bow. Ryou goes pliant but the tense line of his shoulders forges a sudden and unexpected anger in Mariku's chest. This boy is exhausting him with all the range of emotions he is introducing Mariku to. Previously life was simple, anger he could explain 100% of the time, and nothing else. Not that Mariku would ever wish to trade Ryou for his old life, of course, even now he feels curiously protective of the child, but it was nice. "Please forgive this child, he is not particularly bright it would seem, and prone to flights of fancy, my lord." The priestess says, interrupting Mariku's musings with a deep bow of her own. Mariku blinks slowly, glancing at Ryou and the priestess, and then back to Ryou's shoulders.

"No." He says, confused and more than a little angry. "Ryou is…" Mariku searches for a word that accurately sums up their relationship, this tiny boy who has already taught him so much, and Mariku, a god. "Mine." He finally decides, and he can feel his eyes flash. He has been told in the past that flashing his eyes is 'ridiculously creepy, why do you even do these things, Mariku I swear you are testing me' but the priestess pales faster than he thought she would. Ryou lifts his head a little, and Mariku internally panics because his eyes are brimming with tears, but Ryou's smiling and Mariku has no idea what to do-

"Please, I beg of you, I did not know!" The priestess sobs, ripping her hand from Ryou's shoulder with impressive speed and throwing herself on the floor. Mariku blinks, and glances from Ryou to the priestess, completely lost. Ryou doesn't look like he'll be any help in this case, his head is cocked to the side, and his face is a mix of confusion and what Mariku thinks is possibly concern. He couldn't say for certain though, as he still wasn't great at human emotions. The priestess continues to sob as Ryou kneels next to her and gently pats her back.

"Ishizu explained his circumstances, did she not?" Mariku asks, as he generally finds Ishizu to be both logical and almost a mind-reader. If she hadn't instructed the other priests and priestesses of this temple on how to treat Ryou, he should probably visit her later and ask her to do so. The priestess sobs harder, shaking so fiercely Mariku is a little concerned she's going to break apart, though he has not personally seen such a thing happen before. Ryou frowns at him, and Mariku takes a step back. He's not sure what he did wrong.

"You have to apologize. You've scared her." Ryou says seriously, and Mariku frowns, cocking his head to the side. He doesn't see how. He just corrected her mistake and then asked a question. She shouldn't have any reason to be so afraid. After all, she's his priestess, isn't it her job to answer his questions? "Say sorry." Ryou repeats sternly, and Mariku blinks once more.

"I'm sorry I made you cry." Mariku parrots, bemused. The woman's sobs die off slowly, but she still shakes as she lifts her head, as though surfacing through molasses. Speaking of which, Mariku is pretty sure candy can be made of molasses. Maybe he should go find some for Ryou. He doesn't look pleased with Mariku, though Mariku is not sure what he's done wrong. He apologized when Ryou told him to, after all.

"It-It was I in the wrong, lord. Please excuse me." The priestess says, and she gets to her feet, shaking like a baby faun, bowing and practically running away. Mariku watches her go, head cocked to one side. What a strange lady.

"You scared her." Ryou repeats, crossing his arms. He's pouting, which Mariku thinks is very, very cute. But he gets the feeling that now is 'not the time', and pointing that out would be 'insensitive and rude Mariku, just stop'. He turns to Ryou and blinks blankly waiting for an explanation, but Ryou just continues to stare at him, pouting.

"Sorry?" Mariku finally offers, uncertainly. Ryou's pouting intensifies, so Mariku figures that was not the response he wanted. "She was being rude to you." He says petulantly, because as long as he's getting in trouble, he might as well go all the way. "Didn't that hurt your feelings? People aren't supposed to do that." Mariku explains, and he feels it's a logical argument. Ryou softens, his body sags downwards, his face draws up into a sad smile, and he slowly shakes his head.

"Thank you, for trying to stand up for me, but it doesn't matter. She didn't hurt me; she was trying to protect me." Ryou tells him. Mariku's brow furrows, what could there possibly be to protect Ryou from here? That's why Mariku left him here. This was his temple; it was the safest place on Earth. Well, unless he made another deity angry. Or he was angry. But under those circumstances he wouldn't let harm come to Ryou anyway, so it was fine. "Mariku, you're a god. You're the death god." Ryou says significantly, and Mariku nods, because that seems the proper response. Ryou is very big on propriety and Mariku dislikes when Ryou is displeased with him. "That scares people." Ryou finally states, trying to pat Mariku's shoulder. He's still tiny though, even if he's grown a little, so he can't quite reach. It makes Mariku laugh, and Ryou tries to look stern, but he cracks and giggles along with Mariku after a moment, taking his hand instead.

"You aren't scared though." Mariku points out, lifting their entwined hands. Ryou looks thoughtful, and then he smiles. Mariku likes Ryou's smiles the most out of all his expressions. It means Mariku has done something that pleases Ryou.

"That's because I know how nice you can be." Ryou returns, looking Mariku straight in the eyes. "You're a good person and your job doesn't change that. Besides, if you didn't gather the dead, how could new people ever be born?" Ryou asks. Mariku had never thought about it that way before, but then, before Ryou he hadn't felt the need to think about much. It's a nice thought, Mariku finally decides, the idea that he's doing something good for the world, even if it frightens people. Mariku blinks in response and releases Ryou's hand. Ryou smiles again.

"Should I-" Mariku pauses and thinks for a moment, frowning a little. "If it scares people, what do you want me to do?" Mariku finally settles on. Ryou cocks his head to the side and a little thinking furrow forms between his eyebrows. He taps his hand against his lips and considers Mariku's question seriously. Mariku stands obligingly still and silent and he thinks it over.

"I think people just need to know you aren't scary." Ryou states decisively. Mariku nods, that makes sense. He doesn't think he's particularly scary anyway, although he knows some of the other deities might protest this assumption. Loudly, possibly violently. "You should try to smile more too. It's nice to greet people with a smile!" Ryou declares. Mariku nods again, Ryou is a very smart child. He offers a smile, and Ryou claps happily. "That's perfect!" Ryou exclaims happily, and he grabs Mariku's hand and pulls. Mariku blinks, and stares down at their hands, not moving. Ryou huffs, and taps his foot impatiently. "You're supposed to come with me. We're going to test your smile on other people." Ryou explains, and Mariku blinks again, allowing Ryou to pull him where he will. It seems silly to Mariku, after all, there's no way Ryou, or anyone really, could drag him anywhere without him allowing it, but this is just another rule Ryou wants him to follow, so he'll follow it. There are a lot of rules, Mariku thinks sadly. Sometimes it's not easy to remember them all. Knock before entering, shake hands when meeting people, smile, don't steal even though you can, they don't make sense. But they do please Ryou, so what can you do, Mariku thinks.

Ryou leads him to a priest Mariku vaguely recognizes. He thinks the priest might've made a deal with him to save a family member or something. He might've ended up killing that person anywhere. Ryou would probably not be pleased to hear that, so Mariku keeps quiet. "Okay, go." Ryou commands when they get near enough, the other priest turns towards them in confusion and then screams. Mariku blinks and drops the smile, turning towards Ryou. Ryou looks just as confused as he does, so he figures it's fine. "Are you okay?" Ryou asks, approaching the man and touching his elbow. Mariku remains where he is until Ryou shoots him a look and he slowly walks over to the man, unsure of what he's expected to do. The priest shakes like the last leaf on a winter tree as he approaches, and Ryou looks more concerned. "What's the matter?" He asks desperately, and Mariku feels his brow furrow. People are supposed to answer questions, he's pretty sure that's a rule.

"You're supposed to answer questions." Mariku repeats out loud. "It's a rule." He clarifies; the priest stops shaking and looks at him like he's grown a second head. Mariku blinks slowly and double-checks to make sure he has not. It wouldn't be the oddest thing that's happened. When he verifies that he only has the proper amount of body parts in the proper places, he turns to Ryou. Ryou is beaming at him, so Mariku figures that was an okay rule to say out loud. Sometimes Ryou doesn't like him saying rules out loud, like the one about not announcing how much time people have left to live as soon as they start to annoy him. He isn't threatening them, just reminding himself and them that he only has to put up with them for a small period of time longer, so he doesn't understand the rule in the first place, but he's also not allowed to speak the rule out loud, because, according to Ryou, the fact that such a rule exists in the first place scares some people. But not Ryou, which is good.

"I… I apologize, my lord." The priest stammers. Mariku nods politely. That's another rule; acknowledge people's apologies, even if they don't make sense to you. Like when the man in the village apologized for trying to kill him. He hadn't, he wouldn't even be able to, and so Mariku thought it was silly to acknowledge the apology, but Ryou made it a rule, so Mariku would follow it to the best of his ability. Ryou beams at him again, and Mariku feels happiness growing inside him. He smiles again, and the priest lets out a strangled scream. Mariku turns to him and frowns.

"Are-" Mariku thinks for a second, before remembering Ryou's first words. "Are you okay?" He asks haltingly. Ryou gasps, and flings his arms around Mariku's midsection. That was apparently the correct response, and Ryou hadn't even made it a rule. Mariku feels very proud of himself and allows himself to pat Ryou's fluffy hair exactly twice before returning the hug, which was not a rule, but a strong suggestion, at least for people you liked. The priest stares at Mariku again, eyes bulging, and keeps flicking his eyes to Ryou. Maybe he's never seen a hug before. That would be… sad, Mariku thinks is the correct emotion. However he doesn't think he likes hugs except from Ryou, so he won't rectify the situation if that is the case. Then Mariku frowns, because he just explained the rule about answering people's questions. The priest starts.

"I'm fine, I apologize!" The priest squeaks out. Mariku nods again, slowly. His priests and priestesses are kind of odd. Mariku reminds himself again to go speak with Ishizu. Ryou lets go of Mariku and steps back to stare at the priest, head cocked to one side.

"You don't have to apologize so much. Mariku's really nice, you can tell because he smiled earlier." Ryou says logically. The priest looks shellshocked. Mariku thinks that he must not have had anyone to explain these things to him before, which is also very sad. It is good that Ryou is here now. Even though Ryou is Mariku's first and foremost, he's a very good explainer, so Mariku wouldn't stop him from helping other people.

"That was… You were smiling?" The man asks with wide eyes. Mariku frowns and nods. What else would he have been doing? The man lets out a breath with such force Mariku is momentarily worried. "I thought you were going to eat me." The priest confesses shakily. Mariku cocks his head to the side. He doesn't need to eat, and why would he want to eat his priests anyway? The man begins to look worried again, so Mariku slowly shakes his head no. He's pretty sure that's an acceptable response, even though, technically, the man didn't ask a question. The priest breathes out again, though he still looks a little worried. Ryou giggles again.

"Okay, we have to go test out Mariku's smile on other people now. I'm glad you're okay!" Ryou says cheerfully, grabbing Mariku's wrist again. Mariku obligingly allows himself to be dragged along. The priest reaches out like he wants to say something, but he doesn't actually say anything, so Mariku figures it wasn't important.

"We should go see Ishizu." Mariku states. Ryou nods seriously in response, changing his path immediately to go down a different corridor. Mariku thinks he could probably find Ishizu faster, but figures since Ryou took his wrist, it's probably another unspoken rule that Ryou gets to lead. It's tiring, trying to figure out rules before they're explained to him, and Mariku doesn't think he'll do it that often. Eventually they reach Ishizu's little office and Ryou lets go of Mariku's wrist to knock quietly on the door. It's a nice door, Mariku picked the wood out himself, it's a solid oak, stained to a glossy near-black color, so it matches the marble of the rest of his temple.

"Come in." Ishizu says, and Ryou pushes the door open. Ishizu is sitting behind her desk, filling out papers; she glances up and smiles gently when she sees Ryou. "Hello Ryou, what can I do for you?" She asks. Ryou glances out and impatiently waves Mariku into the room. Ishizu's eyes widen when she sees him, and she stands to bow deeply, Mariku nods at her politely.

"Okay, show her!" Ryou demands and Mariku obligingly smiles. Ishizu takes exactly one step back, and takes a sharp breath in. Mariku drops his smile and cocks his head to the side. Ryou frowns. "Why does everyone keep doing that?" He mutters. Mariku shrugs carelessly. It doesn't really bother him, though given Ryou's reactions, perhaps it should.

"My lord, perhaps you should study human smiles a bit longer before attempting your own." Ishizu says gently, and Mariku nods. This is solid advice. He always knew Ishizu was smart. Ryou's face contorts grumpily, but he doesn't say anything to contradict Ishizu, so Mariku makes a mental note to himself.

"Please inform everyone as to Ryou's circumstances, some of the priestesses appeared to be uniformed about his standing." Mariku says, and Ishizu looks confused. "He is mine." Mariku elucidates, and Ryou beams at his feet, pleased. Ishizu nods slowly, so Mariku continues. "Also, perhaps you should implement a more hug-friendly policy." He says. Ishizu blinks once, but nods again. Mariku is happy with how easily she goes along with his ideas. Is he paying her? Maybe he should pay her. He thinks Ryou would be happy with the idea. "I have to return to my duties now. I will see you soon." He tells Ryou. Ryou looks saddened, but he must know how important Mariku's job is, because he just launches himself at Mariku and hugs him tightly for three seconds before he lets him go, sniffling.

"I'll miss you." Ryou says quietly, rubbing at his nose with the sleeves of his priest robe. Mariku pats him awkwardly on the head.

"I'll be back." He promises, holding his pinky out. Ryou stares at his hand, frozen. Mariku thinks for a moment he has misunderstood the gesture and begins to lower his hand, but Ryou seizes Mariku's pinky with his own, a look of solemnity on his face. He shakes their hands up and down twice before letting go, and with that, Mariku returns to his task of reaping souls. Perhaps he should consider creating some helpers to see to these tasks so he can spend more time with Ryou.

**Yay updates, it's only, what, a month late? I'm trying with the Vegas fic, if anyone also reads that, I swear. As always, if there are errors, please correct them. It is currently 11 at night, so I'm not promising perfection. Anyway, Ryou would be about 10 in this chapter, and next chapter, I promise, actual plot will begin.**


End file.
